Inheriting what you can't earn

"Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Mark 10:17-22) What exactly is being asked of Jesus in this question? Some would say that the young man asking this question wants to know how he can earn his way into eternity with God, therefore pointing to the possibility of a works salvation. Even those who deny the possibility of earning salvation (as I do) may stumble when it appears that Jesus begins to prescribe a whole bunch of commandments that must be followed in order to inherit eternal life.

But before you look at Jesus' listing of these commandments and what He means by them, take a look a Jesus' very next words: "Why do you call Me good?...No one is good but One--God." He doesn't answer the man's immediate question of how to inherit eternal life, does He? Why is that? And what exactly does Jesus mean by these words? Is He dodging the question?

In our day and time we have the benefit of the full realm of Scripture to study in order to help us understand the teachings of Jesus. Go back 2000 years and the scene is drastically different. The Old Testament Scriptures were readily available and they were actively living in the reality of the fulfillment of those prophecies. The Messiah was no longer coming. He was there. As we study the New Testament we are struck with just how many people didn't "get it" that Jesus is the Messiah. It seems obvious to us as we sit and read in the comfort of our homes yet two millenia ago this was hard to grasp, even for Jesus' closest of followers.

So here is a young man wanting to know how to inherit eternal life with God. In order to find the answer the question to his question he goes to Jesus, calling Him "good Teacher" and therefore recognizing Him as a rabbi. The word "good" is one that was commonly ascribed to God, not necessarily to teachers. When Jesus hears this, He takes it as an opportunity to affirm His divinity - "No one is good but One--God" - before tackling the weight of the young man's question. We have the benefit of this, knowing that Jesus indeed is God and when He speaks, He doesn't speak for God but He speaks as God. What is coming we know that we can trust and believe.

Jesus then lists some of the Ten Commandments:

• Do not murder
• Do not commit adultery
• Do not steal
• Do not bear false witness
• Do not defraud
• Honor your father and mother

Is Jesus saying that all we have to do is obey commandments like these then we can go to heaven? If that's all there is then why the cross? No, this isn't what Jesus is saying. The young man wants to know what He must do to inherit life and Jesus is merely exposing the flaw in his question. You can't do anything. The man cheerfully announced that he had kept all of these commands since he was a kid. He was ready to go to heaven! But if that was really the case, why was he asking Jesus in the first place? If he was so sure of his place in eternity, then this conversation would have never happened.

Yet he did ask because he knew that doing wasn't enough. Jesus knew that as well, which is why He laid out these commands before waiting to set off the big bomb..."You lack one thing." I'm sure the young man was anxious to hear this one last thing he could do to earn his way into heaven but what he heard was not what he was expecting. Jesus spoke straight to the heart of the young man, which is where the whole issue was based in first place. When Jesus told the young man to sell all that he had and give to the poor, He wasn't laying out another command to follow but rather setting a course for a change of heart. This young man loved his stuff, more than God and more than eternity. If he truly wanted to inherit eternity something was going to have to give.

"Follow me." This was the last thing that Jesus told the man. He was issuing a call to nothing less than reckless abandonment of self and radical obedience and submission to God. Why did Jesus take the time to tell this to this misguided young man? We find the answer in verse 21: "Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him." In this I agree with Rob Bell - loves does win (and yes, I am reading his book so I can comment). But loves win not in the way that Bell believes it does. The love of Christ compels us to turn from self and sin and submit to God. Not everyone gets this; this young man didn't. Eternity with God cannot be earned. Any merit that we have to stand before God was granted to us by the cross of Jesus. Our inheritance is freely given, never earned.